Floating in the Onsen

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Arenais"]

“Over the decades I have been alive, I have refined mental alteration through biological means to a point to where I can find the neurons where memories are located and reprogram them, altering them to change the memories in question. Clearly you suffer a lot a trauma. What I’m offering is a way for you to... what do those lightsiders say... let go.” She said. “With my techniques, I can alter the neurons that hold your traumatic memories. You will know you had them and know you got them dealt with, but you will not remember the memories themselves, so they will not cause nightmares or any other issues.” She replied.

“That simple. And best of all, it's permanent. No relapses. No events that trigger the neurons to fire. None of that."

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay had to sit herself down now. It wasn't as though she was completely believing [member="Vanessa Vantai"] , because she wasn't! But who wouldn't want some memories to be taken away? And she had plenty of bad ones, most especially recently.

"And what's the cost? I ask you again....what do you want?" She had to keep pressing on this. Messing with anyone's brain was serious business. And for someone that serves on an opposing side to 'offer' it was highly suspicious in and of itself.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Arenais"]

"Hugs? A pat on the head from me to you?" She said. "I don't really know what you have to offer, not going to lie." She sighed. "Since your fall from grace, I haven't exactly heard of any major assets you have, and I wouldn't want to ask for a stake in the Tea company given it is your dream. Not exactly a fan of directly tampering with other dreams. I know those feels."

She waited to see if Kay had any idea.

 

[Kay-Larr]

"All of my assets belong to Veiere and the twins. I don't want to ask for any of it. All that I have is in this shoppe, so that's all that I would have, if I were to take you up on it..."

Kay didn't want to be touched. Most especially by [member="Vanessa Vantai"] . Even her own family wouldn't touch her or hug her. The last time that she was held it was to be beaten and pummeled. That went on for months.

 

[Onrai]

Vanessa thought for a bit. She was really that isolated, wasn’t she? How pitiable a sight. And how fortunate that Vanessa was a Sith who still could feel pity, unlike most of her compatriots. She pondered for a bit, studiously attempting to divine a solution, before such a thing eventually came to her head.

“A forty-nine percent stake in your tea company.” She said. “You maintain majority control and decision-making.” She replied. “And should you decide to shut down the endeavor, I will not have the power to stop you.” She explained. “If that is truly all you have left, I will accept that - assuming you don’t even have so much as a lightsaber or a crown as a reminder of your former life.”

[member="Kay Arenais"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay laughed in spite of herself. "Why would I want a reminder? So that I can continue to view myself as a failure like so many do? That'd be absurd."

As to the offer that [member="Vanessa Vantai"] put forth, she shook her head. "That's too much, I'm sorry. I have two employees of mine that I plan on leaving this shoppe and company to when something happens to me. I can't let them lose their control."

 

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Arenais"]

“Oh Kay...” Vanessa said. “I have lost far more than you ever will. I’ve lost employees, starships, fighters, bombers, vehicles - even a planet once. The Mandalorians never forget that one.” She said. “And I still have relics from that time. My flagship has seen my factories bombed by the CIS, my exile from the Fringe, the loss of Dromund Kaas, and twenty years of terror in the Unknown Regions. Accept your failure and move on with yourself.” She said coldly, taking another sip.

“Alright then... assuming you divide your stake evenly, two percent.” She said. Give me that, and I will give you peace. Each one of them gets forty-nine percent once something happens to you. Problem solved.” She said. “Do we have a deal?”

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay slammed her fist down on a nearby table. [member="Vanessa Vantai"] struck a nerve. "I have accepted it! I have moved on! I lost two Empires, millions of lives, ships, officials, reputation and family! Don't you dare speak to me as though I can't move past it. I wouldn't be here, wouldn't have a successful business otherwise!"

She calmed down soon after, thinking of the much smaller proposal that Vanessa had offered. Two percent was much easier to lose than nearly half."Alright, two percent stake for you in Sphaera. But as for your....treatments...I'll have a say in how far they go and when to stop. I don't...handle such things well." There were too many bad exoeriences for her in labs.

 

[Onrai]

“You can’t though.” She said. “That’s why you’ve isolated yourself in this little corner of the galaxy, away from your former friends and foes as the trickles of hallucination and delusion begin to buzz about your brain.” She replied, taking another sip of her tea - she was nearly empty. “But very well. This is not going to be easy, I should probably point out.” She said. “We’re first going to have to do a complete neuron analysis - trigger every neuron and see what reactions there are. With the Force, that shouldn’t be too difficult. Once we’ve determined what neurons specifically need to be altered, I will get to work on creating an alchemical retrovirus to appropriately alter those neurons and ensure that they no longer affect you with trauma.” She replied.

“You will need to come with me to Malachor. This is not something I can do here.”

[member="Kay Arenais"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

"I deserve this isolation..." Kay had started up a new life for herself. She didn't want any of her family or friends to be endangered because of her. It was bad enough that so many had died already.

She clenched her jaw as [member="Vanessa Vantai"] explained the procedure. It didn't sound pleasant at all. Kay had been a test subject before. Most recently the only labs that she was in were ones that she was tortured in. It had gotten so bad that she avoided white rooms. Her 'lab' in the back of the shoppe had stone walls and vegitation. All to make it look less...sterile.

"Malachor? Oh no, no, no...I don't want to travel. I've done enough travelling, thank you."

 

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Arenais"]

"No one deserves isolation, Kay. Regardless as to how pitiable they may have become." Vanessa replied. In response to the woman's latter statement, she sighed. "Okay... then I'm going to need to ask for a four percent stake instead. If you don't want to travel to my laboratory in order to help you, then I will have to bring my laboratory here." She said. "And that will take time and resources, as expected. I doubt whatever laboratory you have is potentially going to be enough for this."

Such was true. This was going to take very specialized equipment.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay knew that she did, and she had some isolation when she was in Purgatory. That is until she was moved to the general population by the Warden.

As [member="Vanessa Vantai"] adjusted her offer, Kay tilted her head to the side a bit as she thought it over. After a moment, she righted herself and nodded. "Agreed. Here will be better and safer. I don't quite like labs in that sense...but if you have the walls painted dark, that'll be helpful."

 

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Arenais"]

“Okay, so we’re going to have to get a lab set up. That should take a few days - I’ll get some property around here and get things set up. Then we can begin sessions immediately upon its completion.” She said. This was going to be frustrating, but at least it would hopefully have fruitful results.

Hopefully.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay nodded. At least she had some time to prepare herself. But whether or not she'd be strong and brave enough to actually go through it all was another story. She'd know for sure when the time came.

"Alright. I'm in no rush. Better to get it done right, right?" She chewed the inside of her cheek. "Best to keep it quiet too. I don't need anyone to know." That was all that she needed was for people to blab about it. She was doing what she could to avoid people that she knew as it was.

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Arenais"]

"Indeed." Vanessa said. "I'll be here in a week's timespan in order to pick you up. You'll come with me to the laboratory and we'll get the treatment started." She said. With a smile, she finished her drink and would throw the empty cup in the disposal unit. "See you then."

With that, she would head back - she had property to buy and equipment to bring to this world.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay just nodded a little as [member="Vanessa Vantai"] walked out. Firstly she was not overly happy that the lab would be ready in such a short time. Given the distance that Altiria was from pretty much everywhere, she figured that she'd at least have a couple of months to get used to the idea and prepare herself for it. But no. It was to be only a seven standard day week...

The other thing that bothered her was that Vanessa threw the cup away! There were no disposable cups in her shoppe as all of her customers either drank the teas there, or merely ordered boxes to take home. So Kay walked over to the bin and fished it out before taking it with her behind the counter for washing.

A week later she found herself keeping quiet during the journey in the speeder. She was just too busy inside of her head. Labs weren't her favourite things, especially when she's the one on the table.

 

[Onrai]

The laboratory was bare and sparsely furnished when Vanessa and Kay would first enter it. Around twenty-five percent of the equipment was there, enough to treat Kay, the intended purpose of this. The lab was also a good deal smaller than the Trayus laboratory was.

Once they would reach the treatment room, Vanessa would motion to a machine that looked almost like something one would find in a hair salon. It was an almost cap-like half-sphere that would fit over Kay’s head, as well as the headrest. The contraption was attached to a seat with arm and leg restraints.

“This machine is going to examine every single neuron within that pretty brain of yours.” She said. “The restraints are for your safety and mine - you’re going to experience more stimulation than you have ever experienced before and will ever experience again in your entire life. They will prevent you from suffering some sort of harm.” Vanessa would open the restraints up and motion for Kay to sit into it, while she fiddled with the monitor. The system itself was advanced enough to, in a sliver of a fraction of a second, determine if a memory was good or bad based on her body’s reaction to it. Once the process was complete, a holographic representation of her mind would be created, every connection detailed with how strongly she positively or negatively reacted to its stimulus.

From this, Vanessa would be able to work on an appropriate retroviral solution to alter these traumatic memories.

[member="Kay Arenais"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Of course Kay hesitated when she walked into the lab. Most especially as she saw the chair. With restraints. "I'm not so sure about this..."

Mayhem's laughter was heard by her. As always it was his voice that she'd hear before he'd appear. "Why not, Kay-Kay? Too comfortable for you?" He moved to the chair and sat down, fitting his head underneath the cap, smiling as [member="Vanessa Vantai"] described how it'll work. "Pretty brain? Oh my, it sounds like she's got a crush on you. What would Veiere say? Tsk tsk tsk. Oh right! You divorced him. In a HOLO MESSAGE! Such a coward, Kay-Kay."

Kay clenched her hands into fists as she continued to glare at the chair. Yet she couldn't so easily move. "He's there. I don't want to sit on his lap."

 

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Arenais"]

Vanessa, a bit frustrated, sat down in the chair. "There's nothing here. Again, this is just a delusion you're seeing." After her point was proven, she would sigh, again motioning to the chair. "Look, I get that you don't like restraints, but if you flail out while I'm stimulating your neurons and mapping out where the bad memories are located in your brain, then you're going to hurt yourself, hurt me, or damage the equipment. Can you do this for me?"

She motioned again to the seat. "He's not real. I literally just clipped through him. I sat on nothing. Please, Kay..."

 

[Kay-Larr]

She watched as [member="Vanessa Vantai"] indeed sat through Mayhem. Though instead of him disappearing, it was more of a mesh between the two that Kay saw. And it was kind of disturbing.

What Vanessa was saying about the restraints made perfect sense. Though she wasn't doing this for her. Kay was doing this for herself. And maybe...her family too. "I just want him to stop haunting me..." Although the memories of the real [member="LordofMayhem"] she wanted to keep. It'd do no good if she were to forget him completely.

Kay closed her eyes and stepped over to the chair, sitting herself down and placing her limbs in the restraints. "How long is this going to take?"